BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) - China's Nio and

state-owned automaker FAW Group have signed a strategic

cooperation agreement for battery charging and swapping,

according to their official social media accounts on Wednesday.

The companies will also deepen long-term cooperation in

battery charging and swapping, including the establishment of

battery technical standards, according to statements made on

their respective WeChat and Weibo accounts.

FAW Group will be the seventh automaking partner in battery

swapping for Nio after Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), Geely

Automobile Holdings and others.

Nio has been betting heavily on EV infrastructure such as

battery-swapping and charging stations, raising investor

concerns over financial burden.

Nio Chief Executive William Li said last week the company

expected its battery-swapping services to earn $10 billion

annually when its user base grows by 100 times from half a

million units currently.

Li announced plans to add 1,000 more battery-swapping

stations this year on top of the existing 2,415.

Nio's domestic rival Li Auto ( LI ) has delayed pure

electric SUV launch plans to next year, citing hurdles including

insufficient fast chargers.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing

by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Subhranshu Sahu)